PRODUCT REVIEW ~ ILOVEMYFRO Products!

I was sent these products to review by Harmony the creator and owner of I LOVE MY FRO products. This is my honest review of these products.

I was sent the Black Tea Leave-In, Avocado Oil, Shea Butter Whip and her new product Curly Kinky Coily Cream Gel (not pictured). I used 3 out of the 4 products so far. I will review the cream gel separately as I haven't used it as of yet.

BLACK TEA LEAVE-IN

DESCRIPTION: Stop Shedding Now! End the breakage cycle!
A great detangler and perfect for both natural and relaxed hair! Black tea contains caffeine that has many benefits for hair.  It has been proven to thicken the hair, slow or stop shedding and stimulate growth.  The main benefit of caffeine is that it blocks the DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) from causing hair to shed.

INGREDIENTS: Distilled Water, Copper Knot Hongcha Black Tea, Aloe Vera Juice, Vegetable Glycerin, Essential Oils, Citric Acid and Fragrance.

Copper Knot Hongcha Black Tea: This is a tea found 2,000 feet atop the famed Yunling Mountain Range of China then hand rolled into a coil of sacred perfection.

INSTRUCTIONS: Apply to freshly shampooed, conditioned and detangled  hair before applying a moisturizer or styling product. Can also be used daily to refresh your  any style.

Can also be used as a detangler!

I used this product as instructed after washing and deep conditioning my hair...I sprayed each section before applying the other products using the L.O.C method. It was good but I'm more of a creamy leave-in type girl. It has a very natural herbally scent. I probably won't purchase this myself as I don't really use spray leave-in products or even for refreshing. But I wouldn't discourage others from giving it a try especially if you like spray type leave in products. My hair felt strengthened I must add.

AVOCADO OIL

DESCRIPTION: Avocado oil has a number of benefits and uses and its use in hair care is one of its most important benefits. It is an edible oil that is extracted from the avocado fruit pulp and has a sweet and nutty aroma.  Avocado Oil can be green or yellow. It has a light texture that makes it easy to soak into the scalp and skin. Use of avocado oil for hair can help deal with a number of hair related problems like hair fall, thinning hair and dandruff.

I had never used avocado oil before. It has a very nutty scent as the description says. It helped moisturize my hair very nicely. I applied it after using the Black Tea Leave-In on each section of my hair and before applying the Shea Butter Whip. It was a good addition to my L.O.C method. I would purchase this oil again and will continue to use it.

SHEA BUTTER WHIP

DESCRIPTION: 100% All Natural Whipped Shea Butter for Hair and Body! 

Recently I increased the amount of Aloe Vera Gel in the ILoveMyFro Shea Butter Whip. Results? Super Moisturized, Shiny, Bouncy, Frizz Free hair!

Dry Hair! Some of us have conquered it, while others are still on the battle field!

There are many misconceptions on moisturizers and oils.  Did you know that Shea Butter and other hair oils are not moisturizers, but sealants? Meaning, these oils seal in moisture when applied to wet/damp hair but are useless when trying to add moisture to a dry style. Shea Butter that's whipped with essential oils, and the key ingredient WATER, is what makes an official moisturizer. ILoveMyFro Shea Butter Whips were created out of my own frustrations with DRY hair. If you are tired of dry, brittle hair and want to finally win the battle, I have good news.  Your search is over!

INGREDIENTS: Raw African Shea Butter, Distilled Water, Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil, Avocado Oil, Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, *Cetyl Alcohol, **Cream Maker CAT, Aloe Vera Gel, Coconut Emulsifier, Optiphen (Preservative) and Fragrance.

*Cetyl Alcohol is a fatty and moisturizing alcohol that is derived from vegetable oil.

**Cream MakerCAT:  Vegetable emulsifier derived from the plant oil Colza.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

On the Hair: Apply to freshly shampooed, conditioned and detangled hair when damp or apply to DRY hair!   Do not apply to soaking wet hair. Great for refreshing your style!  

On the Skin: Apply to damp skin after a shower or bath. Will soothe rough dry skin and provide a smooth moisturized feeling all day.

I really liked this product. The texture was nice and smooth and creamy. And the scent (she sent me the Vanilla scent) is light and really nice. This product as with all her products is targeted more towards the thicker kinkier texture of hair but this worked great in my curly looser texture without weighing it down. I had great definition and hold. It absorbed into my hair with ease and is very moisturizing. It held up really good for the first couple days with no frizz but by the third day there was some frizz which I didn't mind. I actually like my hair better on the 2nd and 3rd day as it's bigger and fuller and the frizz adds to the fullness. I definitely couldn't leave it more then the 3 days without re-twisting and moisturizing it as it becomes a tangled dry mess. I don't have time to twist every night either due to my work schedule...I'm way too tired most nights after work to fuss with my hair. The first night I covered it with my satin bonnet and just got up the next morning and shook and fluffed my hair. The second night I pulled it back into a loose low pony puff and just slept on my satin pillow case...it kept better covered though. 

I also used it in my daughter's hair which is the thicker kinkier texture that these products are made for and it worked in her hair nicely too. She wears her hair in 2-strand twists most of the time so this product is perfect for her. I refreshed her hair today using it on her dry hair but when I took her twists out they were still nicely moisturized and I didn't have to use much product to freshen it up. 

I will be purchasing this and would recommend this to others, especially if you have thicker textured hair that requires lots of moisture! 

Look out for a giveaway of a sample set of these products sponsored by ILoveMyFro when I review the Curly Kinky Coily Cream Gel! 

Thanks Harmony for the opportunity to review your products! 

MY NEW HAIR CUT!

So I was not liking the look of my hair in WnGs (wash n go's) here lately and decided it was time to let go of some of my hair. I didn't want to sacrifice too much length but wanted my hair to have a better shape. It would hang in the back like a 'mullet' when I wore it in WnGs which is one of the reasons I think I rarely wore them but preferred more twist outs. I looked all through Instagram at other natural ladies' hair and picked out a few I liked so that the stylist would have an idea of what I was trying to accomplish. Next it was seeking out a stylist who was knowledgeable about natural hair and who would give me the look I was going for without becoming 'scissor happy' and giving me another 'big chop'...*handsoverface*...LoL! 

One stylist that stood out and that others had recommended to me was Mia Franklin (I can't for the life of me remember the name of her salon...sorry...oops). She is a naturalista herself and when I went to see her to talk to her about what I wanted to achieve she listened and advised me as to what she would do. She would cut some layers into my hair which would create fullness as well. I really liked that she seemed to understand exactly what my issue was with my hair. I made my appointment and couldn't wait to sit in her chair and have her transform my tresses. She done a great job and  the shape of my hair almost immediately looked better, as it dried it became full and big and took on a great shape! 

I don't have any recent before pictures of my hair in a WnG as I don't wear them often but this is my hair AFTER the cut yesterday and it was fully dry...the pics don't do it any justice as in person my hair was so full and big! 

DEVELOPING A HAIR REGIMEN ~ IS IT NEEDED?

When I first went back to my natural hair I knew nothing about a hair regimen. My hair was so short that to me all I really felt I needed to do was wash it, deep condition and moisturize and go about my business. As I started to follow other naturals on various social media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs, I saw that many of them had developed a 'hair regimen' for themselves. It involved weekly or bi-weekly cleansing and deep conditioning, but also sometimes involved extra steps such as pre-pooing or once a month detox cleansing with hair mud/clay mixes for deep cleaning of their strands. 

So naturally as my hair grew I decided to try a hair regimen myself. I decided to do a weekly pre-poo/cleanse/deep condition/moisturize/style regimen. There have been times when my schedule doesn't allow me to do it weekly here lately but I don't go past two weeks without giving my hair some good TLC. I've found what products work best, as well as try new products and techniques for the sake of my hair page(s) and now my blog. I think it has contributed greatly to the growth and health of my hair over my 3 1/2 years of having natural hair. Some things that I used to do on a regular basis such as henna treatments and bentonite clay detox treatments I haven't kept up but here recently I decided to go back to including the bentonite clay detox treatment once a month to give my hair and scalp a good clarifying cleansing. Henna became so time consuming and all the mixing I just didn't have time for anymore. 

I also had to develop one for my daughter's hair once I transitioned her from texturizers back to her natural hair. Her hair is thicker than mines and requires lots of moisture. Finding products that worked in her hair was a task but after several months I found the ones that worked the best for moisturizing her hair. I use the L.O.C method (will do a separate blog post on this method) on her hair and it has been working great! Her hair is healthy and growing nicely. We do her hair regimen every two weeks. She wears her hair mostly in 2-strand twists as that's easy for her to maintain in between her hair pampering days. 

My Daughter's Hair 

Some will say that a 'hair regimen' is not needed, but I do think it helps in maintaining the health of your hair. I know some will also say that they don't have a lot of time but if you want healthy hair I believe you should make the time to pamper it. You don't have to do all the extras such as pre-pooing and mud wash detox treatments but even the basics like cleansing, deep conditioning and moisturizing makes a difference. I don't always have the time for my full hair pampering routine but those basics I believe have still helped me to maintain the health of my hair and contributed to its growth, as well as my daughter's hair. 

What do you think? Do you have a 'hair regimen'?